Alaska Days with John Muir: 4 Books in One Volume: Illustrated: Travels in Alaska, The Cruise of the Corwin, Stickeen and Alaska Days

by John Muir

John Muir made four trips to Alaska, as far as Unalaska and Barrow. Muir, Mr. Young and a group of Native American Guides first traveled to Alaska in 1879 and were the first Euro-Americans to explore Glacier Bay. Muir Glacier was later named after him. He traveled into British Columbia a third of the way up the Stikine River, likening its Grand Canyon to "a Yosemite that was a hundred miles long". Muir recorded over 300 glaciers along the river's course. He returned for further explorations in southeast Alaska in 1880 and in 1881 was with the party that landed on Wrangel Island on the USS Corwin and claimed that island for the United States. He documented this experience in journal entries and newspaper articles—later compiled and edited into his book The Cruise of the Corwin. In 1888 after seven years of managing the Strentzel fruit ranch in Alhambra Valley, California, his health began to suffer. He returned to the hills to recover, climbing Mount Rainier in Washington and writing Ascent of Mount Rainier. Travels in Alaska The Cruise of the Corwin The Story of a Dog Alaska Days With John Muir by Samuel Hall Young

499 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 22, 2019

About the author

John Muir (1838 – 1914) was a Scottish-American naturalist, author, and early advocate of preservation of wilderness in the United States. His letters, essays, and books telling of his adventures in nature, especially in the Sierra Nevada mountains of California, have been read by millions. His activism helped to preserve the Yosemite Valley, Sequoia National Park and other wilderness areas. The Sierra Club, which he founded, is now one of the most important conservation organizations in the United States. One of the best-known hiking trails in the U.S., the 211-mile (340 km) John Muir Trail, was named in his honor. Other such places include Muir Woods National Monument, Muir Beach, John Muir College, Mount Muir, Camp Muir and Muir Glacier.

In his later life, Muir devoted most of his time to the preservation of the Western forests. He petitioned the U.S. Congress for the National Park bill that was passed in 1890, establishing Yosemite and Sequoia National Parks. The spiritual quality and enthusiasm toward nature expressed in his writings inspired readers, including presidents and congressmen, to take action to help preserve large nature areas. He is today referred to as the "Father of the National Parks" and the National Park Service has produced a short documentary about his life.

Muir's biographer, Steven J. Holmes, believes that Muir has become "one of the patron saints of twentieth-century American environmental activity," both political and recreational. As a result, his writings are commonly discussed in books and journals, and he is often quoted by nature photographers such as Ansel Adams. "Muir has profoundly shaped the very categories through which Americans understand and envision their relationships with the natural world," writes Holmes. Muir was noted for being an ecological thinker, political spokesman, and religious prophet, whose writings became a personal guide into nature for countless individuals, making his name "almost ubiquitous" in the modern environmental consciousness. According to author William Anderson, Muir exemplified "the archetype of our oneness with the earth".

Muir was extremely fond of Henry David Thoreau and was probably influenced more by him than even Ralph Waldo Emerson. Muir often referred to himself as a "disciple" of Thoreau. He was also heavily influenced by fellow naturalist John Burroughs.

During his lifetime John Muir published over 300 articles and 12 books. He co-founded the Sierra Club, which helped establish a number of national parks after he died and today has over 1.3 million members. Author Gretel Ehrlich states that as a "dreamer and activist, his eloquent words changed the way Americans saw their mountains, forests, seashores, and deserts." He not only led the efforts to protect forest areas and have some designated as national parks, but his writings gave readers a conception of the relationship between "human culture and wild nature as one of humility and respect for all life," writes author Thurman Wilkins.

His philosophy exalted wild nature over human culture and civilization. Turner describes him as "a man who in his singular way rediscovered America. . . . an American pioneer, an American hero." Wilkins adds that a primary aim of Muir’s nature philosophy was to challenge mankind’s "enormous conceit," and in so doing, he moved beyond the Transcendentalism of Emerson and Thoreau to a "biocentric perspective on the world."

In the months after his death, many who knew Muir closely wrote about his influences.

Reviews

[Agnieszka · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first three books are written by John Muir in descending order of page # the last one written by Samuel Hall Young an evangelist and Muir's main companion in Alaska.
The average rating would be 4.25 stars though only because of the second book in this collection. Because even there Muir's parts were great (content & style) I stick to my gut feeling and rate the entire book set 5 star (basically disregarding the poor quality of The Cruise of the Corwin).

The page number of the total seems way too low (or the original book pages were huge, larger than letter format printed in tiny letters) - approximately every two to three Kindle pages in the app for desktop PC or iPad had a new page #
- beautiful, very poetic and visual descriptions; witty writting style full of dry humor
- language: old English with some Scottish influences, very elaborate with many geological & botanical expressions (only suitable for very advanced language students, willing to put a lot of work into reading)
- very dated basic views on Native Americans, at the beginning verging on disparaging - though put into perspective by his observations
- strongly Christian scientific worldview apparent all through the books
- author's main focus are glaciers (their froms, formation, development, implications on local environment and development of surrounding landscapes - subject of earth-sculpture and landscape-making. (p. 168))

#1 Travels in Alaska read: 6/10-21/21; 4.5*
195 pages, set in the summers/early autums of 1879, 1880 & 1890

#2 The Cruise of the Corwin: Journal of the Arctic Expedition of 1881 in Search of de Long and the Jeannette read: 6/7-7/4/21; 2.5*
188 pages, set in 1881
I didn't like his one very much. This book is not written in the usual style of the author but is a combination of several sources combined into one work. As the introduction explained it's mainly based on a report to a government board (which due to some petty jealousy was set so poorly it's difficult to read - the author got no right to proof read it before publication) interspersed with journal entries, letters or newspeper articles from other members of the search party (now I understand the usual title of this book: The Cruise of the Corwin: Journal of the Arctic Expedition of 1881 in Search of de Long and the Jeannette which is very fitting). The parts which the author submitted to a Californian newpeper were in his usual style I so enjoyed from the previous two books I read in this book set and showed why I liked them so much - unfortunatelly most of the other parts are very difficult to read and the reason I rarely enjoy classics/old English books. The appendices will only be enjoyed by scientists or hard-core knowledge junkies.

#3 Stickeen: Story of a Dog read: 6/15/21; 5*
19 pages, set 8/20/1880 - a shorter account is described at the end of chapter 15 in Travels in Alaska
such a cute creature; account of a dangerous adventure

#4 Alaska Days with John Muir by Samuel Hall Young read: 7/12-13/21; 5*
97 pages
WOW! I loved the author's witty style and learning a few more facts about John Muir, their travels and Samuel Young's work. If it were not for the God-like worship that seems to be Young's POV regarding Muir this book would've been perfect.
This books describes some episodes of Muir's first two Alaska travels (1879 & 1880) which Young accompanied as well as their (few) later encounters. I was so happy to find a map of their travels - though it would've been more helpful if it were much earlier in book or at least a reference to it (with a link) at the very beginning of this collection.